1,339 research outputs found
The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals: Choices for America
Looks at key differences in the 2008 presidential candidates' health insurance reforms and evaluates them against the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's principles. Estimates each plan's impact on the number of uninsured
The Health Insurance Provisions of the 2009 Congressional Health Reform Bills: Implications for Coverage, Affordability, and Costs
Analyzes the House and Senate healthcare reform bills for the number of people likely to gain coverage and the implications for federal financing, families' insurance premium and out-of-pocket costs, employers, and the potential for price competition
Starting on the Path to a High Performance Health System: Analysis of Health System Reform Provisions of Reform Bills in the House of Representatives and Senate
Compares the reform bills' reform provisions, with a focus on closing the coverage gap by creating an insurance exchange of public and private plans, strengthening Medicare, and expanding Medicaid. Examines implications for the budget and coverage rates
How Health Care Reform Can Lower the Costs of Insurance Administration
Examines the sources of U.S. insurance administration costs and estimates potential cost savings from the creation of a national insurance exchange to replace the individual and small-group markets as part of a public-private approach to reform
The Comprehensive Congressional Health Reform Bills of 2009: A Look at Health Insurance, Delivery System, and Financing Provisions
Provides an overview of the key provisions of the House and Senate healthcare reform bills that are essential to a high-performance health system. Compares approaches to health insurance reforms, health system reforms, and revenue sources and financing
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Cognitive behavioral training reverses the effect of pain exposure on brain-network activity
Repeated sensory exposures shape the brain's function and its responses to environmental stimuli. An important clinical and scientific question is how exposure to pain affects brain network activity and whether that activity is modifiable with training. We sought to determine whether repeated pain exposure would impact brain-network activity and whether these effects can be reversed by cognitive behavioral training (CBT). Healthy subjects underwent 8 experimental sessions on separate days where they received painful thermal stimuli. They were randomly assigned to groups receiving either CBT (Regulate group, n=17) or a non-pain-focused treatment (Control group, n=13). Before and after these sessions, participants underwent functional MRI (fMRI) during painful stimulation and at rest. The effect of repeated pain over time in the Control group was a decrease in the neurotypical pain-evoked default mode network (DMN) deactivation. The Regulate group did not show these DMN effects but rather had decreased deactivation of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (R vlPFC) of the executive control network. In the Regulate group, reduced pain-evoked DMN deactivation was associated with greater individual reduction in pain intensity and unpleasantness over time. Finally, the Regulate group showed enhanced resting functional connectivity between areas of the DMN and executive control network over time, compared to the Control group. Our study demonstrates that trainable cognitive states can alter the effect of repeated sensory exposure on the brain. The findings point to the potential utility of cognitive training to prevent changes in brain network connectivity that occur with repeated pain experience
Labeless and reversible immunosensor assay based upon an electrochemical current-transient protocol
A novel labeless and reversible immunoassay based upon an electrochemical
current-transient protocol is reported which offers many advantages in
comparison to classical immuno-biochemical analyses in terms of simplicity,
speed of response, reusability and possibility of multiple determinations.
Conducting polypyrrole films containing antibodies against 1) Bovine Serum
Albumin (BSA) and 2) Digoxin were deposited on the surface of platinum
electrodes to produce conductive affinity matrices having clearly defined
binding characteristics. The deposition process has been investigated using 125I
labelled anti-digoxin to determine optimal fabrication protocols. Antibody
integrity and activity, together with non-specific binding of antigen on the
conducting matrix have also been investigated using tritiated digoxin to probe
polypyrrole/anti-digoxin films. Amperometric responses to digoxin were recorded
in flow conditions using these films, but the technique was limited in use
mainly due to baseline instability. Anti-BSA - polypyrrole matrices were
investigated in more detail in both flow and quiescent conditions. No observable
response was found in flow conditions, however under quiescent conditions (in
non-stirred batch cell), anti-BSA – polypyrrole films have been demonstrated to
function as novel quantitative chronoamperometric immuno-biosensors when
interrogated using a pulsed potential waveform. The behaviour of the electrodes
showed that the antibody/antigen binding and/or interaction process underlying
the response observed was reversible in nature, indicating that the electrodes
could be used for multiple sensing protocols. Calibration profiles for BSA
demonstrated linearity for a concentration range of 0-50 ppm but tended towards
a plateau at higher concentrations. Factors relating to replicate sensor
production, sample measurement and reproducibility are discuss
Front and Center: Ensuring That Health Reform Puts People First
Outlines the failures of the healthcare system and the benefits of the Commonwealth Fund's comprehensive reform plan for the uninsured, the underinsured, those who cannot afford out-of-pocket costs or premiums, and others without adequate access to care
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